Ulster parties bid to save Stormont

Make-or-break negotiations on the future of the Northern Ireland peace process ground on towards a second night tonight, with Sinn Féin appearing more optimistic on a solution for reinstating the suspended Stormont assembly than their power-sharing partners, the Democratic Unionist party.

With negotiations taking place behind closed doors at Leeds Castle in Kent - and with the added complication that the Rev Ian Paisely's hardline DUP refuse to talk face to face with Sinn Féin - progress is hard to gauge.

But Mitchell McLaughlin, Sinn Féin's negotiator, said he was unaware of any possible announcement from the IRA on further disarmament - despite speculation on the subject this morning by Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble.

Rumours of a major statement by the paramilitary organisation have heightened since the three-day talks at Leeds Castle, Kent, began yesterday.

They must end by lunchtime tomorrow, as the picturesque venue is then booked for weddings.

Although Mr McLaughlin insisted he was unaware of any imminent announcement on guns, he said the whole peace process would be "liberated" if an agreement involved terrorist weapons and British troop reductions in Ulster.

But before republicans make a move they want assurances that the Stormont executive and assembly will be protected.

With the DUP demanding proof that the IRA will disarm and end their terror operation before agreeing to go back into the Stormont administration, the Sinn Féin chairman confirmed that some progress had been made.

"I agree that the deal could be done. We are engaged in a process of talks that has actively intensified," he said.

At the start of this weekend's talks, Gerry Adams presented the prime minister with a bugging device claimed to have been found at Sinn Féin's offices.

Any attempt to totally restructure the political institutions will be fiercely resisted, Mr McLaughlin said. Nevertheless, he added: "We will not be found wanting if the DUP are ready to discuss."

"Our view, for some time, is we will do business with the DUP, representing in our view a more cohesive unionism."

Peter Robinson, Mr Paisley's number two, also spoke of movement on some of the outstanding issues which have bedevilled Northern Irish politics.

He refused, however, to indicate whether the progress was around paramilitary violence and decommissioning, switching policing powers from Westminster to Belfast, or how the Stormont regime operated.

"Progress has been made in some areas. There are other areas where there has been no progress whatsoever.

"I'm not indicating how much progress we are making in any specific areas."

The East Belfast MP cautioned against the earlier optimism of other political parties that a deal was moving towards completion.

"To say that we are on the cusp of getting an agreement, that isn't the position inside [the negotiations]."

As the haggling continued, the prime minister's official spokesman said he was prepared to stick with the talks. He said: "We wouldn't still be here unless work was being done and work is being done."

Meanwhile the Ulster Unionists (UUP) urged the IRA to make a new and detailed statement on weapons without delay.

Mr Trimble said: "There have been rumours that the spokesman of that private army, one P O'Neill, may be about to say something. In which case, the sooner we hear it, and the clearer the message, the better."

Back in Belfast today, the former Irish taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, gave an unexpected vote of confidence in Rev Paisley, saying he would be a fit man to head up a new restored Northern Ireland assembly - provided the IRA turned itself into a "commemorative organisation".

He told a Belfast youth conference: "The Provisional IRA must reduce themselves to a commemorative organisation only; demilitarisation must take place by all involved, including the British army, and thereby return normality to society."

Rev Paisley could then be installed as first minister for Northern Ireland "a singular honour that I am sure he has worked all his life to attain," and lead his party into a new, bright and peaceful future.

"He is the man to lead change," Mr Reynolds told the gathering of several hundred young people from both sides of the border attending the Washington-Ireland Program 10th anniversary conference.